Pao Highlights

In March, teachers at the Primary School organised an a classical Chinese poetry activity for Year 1 students to deepen the students’ understanding of poetry and its artistry, alongside giving them the chance to appreciate the beauty of the Chinese language. During the activity, the students discussed the poetry and its meaning, memorised short poems and tried their hand at writing their own pieces.

In late March, the students took part in the Primary School’s annual Book Week event, themed 'We are readers of the world’. Activities across the week included various themed readings, a book lucky draw, reading sessions, parent storytelling, book exhibitions, and a character dress-up day. In particular, the students found the ‘drop everything and read!’ challenge very exciting - each day they were surprised with an announcement to drop everything and read for 10 minutes. 

Book Week is also a chance for students to learn more about writing. This year, writer and illustrator Tiffany led a workshop on creating stories and demonstrated the process of making digital illustrations.

In the Spring, the Primary School held its annual Chinese Culture Week, with teachers in each year group preparing activities surrounding different aspects of traditional Chinese culture. In Year 1, students learned the story of the Chinese zodiac. Year 2s focused on learning about different Chinese minority ethnic groups. Year 3 students concentrated on the traditional Chinese calendar and the 24 solar terms. In Year 4, the activities centred on Chinese tea culture.  And, in Year 5, students continued learning about Chinese characters, through reading and competitions, alongside making T-shirts and lanterns.

In April, the Dalai Time Museum visited the Primary School, bringing a collection of clocks from different time periods and places around the world. The clocks allowed teachers from the museum to give a fascinating lesson on time and the history of clocks for Year 1 and 2 students. The students also explored temporary exhibitions in the classrooms, which featured different types of clocks. The activity allowed students to appreciate the ideas of aesthetics of China and the West from different time periods, whilst also experiencing the joy of human invention.

Last week, Sports Day came to the Primary School, with the students taking part in a variety of physical competitions such as frisbee, pipe relay, long rope skipping, crab football, bridge building, and capture the flag. During the day, the students practised their sports skills, whilst learning more about perseverance, team spirit, and sportsmanship.

On 29th March, it was a great honour for Lü Jia, chief conductor of the China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, to visit campus. Lü Jia was the first Asian conductor to serve as the artistic director of a major Italian opera house and the first Chinese conductor to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted over 50 opera performances in Italy and Germany. During his visit, Lü Jia shared his music journey with Year 8 students, teaching them about the beauty of music.

On May 4th, the Middle School was excited to welcome a visit from the Trout Piano Quartet – who had been invited to campus by Principal Ada Wang. The members of the quartet, Yiqiu Chen, Leonard Lindweld, Ziti Zhang, and Yang Xu, gave a world-class performance for Year 7 students and then held a musician's masterclass. Through the event, the students not only learned more about music but were able to expand their horizons.

In March, Songjiang campus hosted a TEDx event. The event was a great success, with high-quality talks in both English and Chinese from Pao School students Robin (Y10), Ashley (Y12) and Petunia (Y12). The event also hosted some external speakers and covered a wide range of topics including neuroscience, AI-aided automobiles, innovation, and personal growth.

Recently, on Songjiang Campus, the Field Study CCA and other student-led clubs organised a Charity Fun Run, with 373 students and 33 parents participating in the activity. In total, the participants ran 7,937 laps – 2,381,100 meters! In the end, Winter House won first place with 158 participating members, a total of 2290 laps, and an average score of 14.49 laps per person.

This year, Book Week at the High School was held in April. During the week, students took part in various activities such as a book fair and lectures. The aim of the event was to encourage students’ love for reading, enhance their understanding of Chinese culture, and teach them to embrace the future with a positive attitude.

In April, the High School’s student-led Green Origin club organised a school visit for kindergarten children. During the visit, the club offered activities surrounding the theme of Earth Day, including cleaning up waste from the outside and answering the children’s questions about environmentalism. Though still students themselves, members of Green Origin acted as educators, passing on essential knowledge about environmentalism to the next generation.

Congratulations to the following students, who have achieved awards and recognition for their accomplishments across several fields:

Jennifer (Y9) achieved 1st prize in the National Brain Bee Competition and will join the 2023 International Brain Bee Competition as part of the Chinese team.

Each year, our students take part in the USAD (United States Academic Decathlon) competition. At the end of last year, our senior team became the top-ranked team in China in the global final. This year, we entered four teams into the competition – three within the “classic’ competition and one in the ‘Research’ competition. Overall, our students received 24 individual national awards and one of our Classic teams consisting of Year 9 students Anna, Rosa, Cecilia, Julia, Tiffany, Yuki, Emily, Cynthia, and Jason was ranked 3rd in the National Overall Team Award, which means that they have qualified for the Global USAD competition. In addition, Sylvia, Carrie, Sarah, and Tom (all Y9) won three gold medals, one bronze and gold for the National Academic Grand Slam Award, which means that they ranked 1st overall in Division I.

David (Y10) recently participated in the 2022-2023 International Earth Science Olympiad (China division) competition. Over 40,000 students took part, with David achieving 2nd place.

Luis (Y9) received the individual distinction award in the regional round of the International Linguistics Olympiad and has qualified for the national final.

Two Pao School teams joined the 2022-2023 Envirothon competition. Sally (Y10), Jackey (Y10), and Emily (Y10) achieved the highest possible score, and Candice (Y10), Jane (Y10), David (Y10), Angelina (Y10), and Steven (Y11) were awarded the highest distinction.

Rivers (Y5) achieved 1st Place in the junior division of the 2023 WSDA Impromptu Debate.

Lucas (Y5) earned Best Speaker at NHSDLC’s 2023 Junior WSD Winter Invitational Tournament.

Awards for Art

Tom (Y5) achieved Third Prize in the Calligraphy Category at the Shanghai Primary and Secondary School Ancient Poetry and Calligraphy Conference.

Alina (Y5) won the Silver Prize for the Junior A Group of the 2023 Paris Music Competition China Final for Vocal Music.

Kitty (Y11), Kelly (Y11), and Rena (Y10) won 3rd Prize in the 2022 Shanghai University and Middle School Students' "West meets East" Cultural Exchange Programme.

YKPS Treeman 19600, one of the school’s robotics clubs, went to Chongqing to compete with 23 teams in the FTC competition. The team won the highest honour of the event, the Enlightenment Award, and the Connection Award. Every member of the team has made an outstanding contribution to the group’s success.

Eva (Y10) was awarded the 3rd prize in the Shanghai Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest. 

Kitty (Y11), Frank (Y11) and Rocky (Y9) won the 1st Prize in the hospitality section of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) competition.

In the global finals of China Thinks Big (CTB), Pao School’s “Promoting Green Concepts and Actions with a Metaverse Game themed on Campus Architecture and Life” team, which was captained by Lisa Xia (Y10), won the 1st Place Award. In addition, Sissi (Y11), Kaikai (Y10), and Judy (Y10) won the top 5% outstanding performance in the 2023 CTB national round.

Chenfei (Y9) won silver medals in the individual 60 cm jumping and in team jumping events at the 2023 China Youth Equestrian Competition.

Ray (Y9) received 1st prize with his team in the Boy's Ice Hockey competition (Group A) of the 17th Shanghai Games.